For fifteen glorious years, Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors led a charmed existence. Under General Managers Semon (Bunkie) Knudsen, Elliot (Pete) Estes and John Z. DeLorean, Pontiac rose from being on the endangered species list as a maker of cars for old men to the hottest Division at GM. During these years, Pontiac brought us the Bonneville, the GTO, the Firebird and the Grand Prix. Then began what could be described as a forty-year-long descent that concluded with the 2009 termination of Pontiac. Was this car the sign of everything to come?

The original 1961 Pontiac Tempest was covered with the fingerprints of all three of these successive (and successful) Pontiac execs. Led by DeLorean, the engineers were not about to share the Corvair with Chevrolet due to concerns about the car’s handling characteristics. The Team at Pontiac began its cut-and-paste job with a body, systems and components sourced from all across GM, with some inventive additions of its own. The resulting 1961 Tempest became the best seller of General Motors Y body car (outselling the Olds F-85 and Buick Special) even before Pontiac added even more zest with the LeMans. The 1964 version of the car begat, of course, legendary GTO.

Thus began the lineup that anchored Pontiac’s mid-sized offerings all through the 1960s – the basic Tempest, the sportier LeMans and the mad-dog GTO. Everyone in America understood this heirarchy, and it sold a lot of cars.

In 1969, John DeLorean left the Pontiac Motor Division to take on the challenges at Chevrolet. And we all remember his successor, right? . . . . . Bueller? . . . . Anyone? How about F. James McDonald? He was the longtime GM engineer who had come up through the ranks of the company’s foundry operations, eventually heading the Defiance, Ohio foundry. McDonald would have a short tenure at Pontiac, arriving in 1969, then moving to follow DeLorean yet again at Chevrolet in October of 1972. McDonald would finish his career as President of GM from 1981-87 under Roger Smith’s chairmanship. McDonald is credited (or maybe this is not the right word) with the dismantling of GM’s individual Divisions, a structure that would itself be replaced in 1991 under Chairman John Smith.

When I was a kid, there would always be several magazines that would hit the newsstands in early summer, in which new cars for the coming model year would be previewed. Often illustrated with nothing but line drawings, these mags would hit the highlights of everything that we would need to know to be informed about the new cars that would soon be flooding our neighborhoods. I still vividly recall being informed in 1970 that for 1971, Pontiac would introduce the new T-37.

“What”, I wondered, “was a T-37?” No matter, they would soon be all over and I would get used to their slightly European nomenclature, just as I had things like the Plymouth Gran Coupe and the Ford Galaxie 7 Liter. But then came the 1971 model year. Soon enough, I became surrounded by GM cars with slits in the trunklids for the new Flow Through Ventilation, and the hugely hyped Vega and Pinto. But I’m not sure I ever did see a T-37. I saw lots of these labeled as a LeMans (notice how deftly I avoided having to try to spell LeManses?) and even got on close terms with the GTO that Mrs. Bordner next door bought to replace her 1968 model. But the T-37 seemed to be missing in action. I wondered if it was one of those things that got cancelled before production, or even maybe shortly into the model year.

Then, about three years ago (so don’t call the number on the windshield, please), I saw this one, in the same lot where I found the 1957 Pontiac station wagon (CC here). It turns out that the T-37 was not the unicorn that I expected it to be, as Pontiac built around 45,000 of them. But it would be gone after the 1971 model, with the bottom of the A body pyramid now being supported by the LeMans. This one at least got upgraded to an automatic transmission and Morrokide (vinyl) upholstery. The many selling feaures written on the window omits “V8 engine”, so perhaps this one really sports the 250 cid six under the hood.

In researching this car, I learned that there was a T-37 appearance upgrade package offered for the 1970 Tempest, and a GT-37 model/package (I’m still not sure which) that turned the Tempest/T-37 into a Road Runner wannabe. The GT-37 would have been a really rare find, with production never getting out of the mid four figure range in either year. My research also explained the basis for the name. According to an interview (found here) of Jim Wangers, the Pontiac adman who was so much a part of the Division’s success in the ’60s, McDonald was kind of an old-school manufacturing guy who really didn’t get what Pontiac was all about. This model was a case in point: In Pontiac’s serial numbering system, T stood for Tempest and 37 was the internal code for a hardtop coupe. So, there you have it – pure sales magic. Even perpetually clueless Chrysler called it’s car a Road Runner instead of a PL-22.

More incredibly, Pontiac seems to have invested approximately nine minutes in educating the general public on the new car. “Hi, I just bought a new T-37!” Even today (as in 1971), many casual Pontiac fans might congratulate you on your new Air Force training plane, your new Texas Instruments calculator, or your new testosterone-boosting supplement. “Oh, it’s a car.” And not a very exciting one, at that.

So, alas – all I found here was a low-end Tempest under an alias. It is not a Tempest, not a LeMans, and certainly not the cheap-speed GT-37. Confused yet? You are in good company. That this minimalistic approach to naming a car was a failure was soon evident even to Mr. McDonald, as the 1972 version of the car became simply the LeMans. We will leave the nonsequitur of Luxury LeMans for another time.

Was this a tremendous blunder? No, but it certainly was a bonehead move, at least a small one. After all, nobody really cares what the strippo, low profit model is called. But people do care about things like image, consistency and name recognition. Tempest may not have been the greatest model name in 1971, but at least everyone knew what it was and where it stood in the lineup.

Pontiac would make more moves like this, lurching between success and failure over the next thirty five-plus years. But unfortunately, there would be too many “T-37” moments in the ensuing years. I’m looking at you, G-8 (the car, not the governmental confab). Which is a shame, because many of these unfortunately named cars deserved better. This one certainly did.

Rob is it with it a original engine the 350 rocket I don’t remember what type of transmission it had but it was an automatic and I know I had three gear three nine gears in the back I’m looking for one I had one when I was a teenager bought it for 300 bucks and it was a very fast car I smoke the boys with them 5.0 Mustangs every time they didn’t know what the hell is going on skews language

I’ve seen T-37s several times on Craigslist over the years. I knew it was a “low priced” model in the Le Mans line, but I didn’t know it was available with a 6 cylinder engine or as a 4 door sedan.

I assumed Pontiac was testing the waters for a possible change from it’s “regular” model names to models that were alphanumeric. Nowadays, the T-37 name almost seems normal.

In the 70s, Pontiac would add and then discard names for it’s intermediate model line as quickly as prospective parents looking for names for their next child. Can Am, Grand Am, Luxury Le Mans, Safari, Bonneville Model G.

I’d almost rather have a GT-37 over a GTO for the rarity alone-The powertrain options were almost the same-Savvy buyers could spec out a lightweight coupe version with a 455HO and a have a faster lighter car.

At least, Pontiac could had used the Tempest name for the upcoming 1971½ “BOP” Nova instead of the Ventura II name. It could had bring a better 2nd life for that nameplate instead of being a Corsica clone for a Canada-only model. Mercury was more wiser to revive the Comet name in 1971 after a year off for their Maverick version.

I was under the impression that this series was actually part of the LeMans line (i.e., “LeMans T-37”), but from the article and discussion I take it that wasn’t the case. Whatever it was, it was essentially a replacement for the ’70 Tempest.

I don’t think the T-37 was replaced by the base LeMans for ’72 as much as it was just dropped, rendered unneccesary by the X-body Ventura. Around this time, other GM divisions were also phasing out what had originally been the lowest trim level of their A-body lines. The base Chevelle 300 and Buick Special were already gone, and ’72 would be the last year for the Olds F-85.

Tangentially related observation: on Christmas Eve afternoon I saw a ’67 Chevelle 300 4-door sedan, in really nice shape, rolling down Main Street in downtown Worcester, MA, wearing Massachusetts license plates (regular plates, not antique plates). Not a common sight in general, but especially unexpected in Massachusetts in December.

This may have had to do with high insurance rates on GTOs. The T-37 buyers could option out a GTO equivalent, but insure it more cheaply, and quietly drive it to work daily without calling itself out for attention from cops, thieves, or wannabe racers.

that’s the real reason. the muscle cara sold to people in their 20s at the time. (not like today) and the insurance companies were whacking them to the point where they couldn’t afford them, so the sales dropped rapidly. the thinking was that GT-37 would look like GTO from a little distance but it would get the insurance rates of a Tempest.

I seem to remember when the GT-37 came out, it was an answer to the rising insurance rates and competition for the Plymouth RoadRunner. Pontiac had the GT-37 and Chevrolet had the Heavy Chevy Chevelle. The Heavy Chevy enjoys a pretty good sales value these days when you can find them. Don’t see as many GT-37’s though.

I remember the Heavy Chevy as a ‘tape stripe hopup” like the Duster Twister and Maverick Grabber. While I have no doubt that you could get the big engines in them, virtually every one I ever saw was a 307/automatic combination, with bench seats and a column shifter. And usually a vinyl interior. Essentially the low end Chevelle 2 door hardtop with tape stripes.

I believe some slipped through with the 350, 396/402 and 454 big blocks, but the bread and butter one were indeed the 307 with column shift. Seem to recall seeing some with rubber floor matting in lieu of carpeting. Not a bad idea when you think about it; in these days, getting insurance was tough for a young man starting out. The end of the muscle car era was coming to the end, thanks to low compression engines coming out in anticipation of going to unleaded gas, but especially for the insurance industry going out of their way to legislate these cars out of business simply by making the premiums to insure them prohibitive.

The GT37 and Olds Rallye 350 were the same formula as to the Heavy Chevy. I like them all, the Olds, Pontiac and Chevy. The subject car here today is begging to be cloned into a GT37, with the Judge eyebrow side striping. A nice look.

I was given a free T-37 in 1984. White, dog dish hubcaps, 250 automatic, cloth seats, and little else. A true old maid librarian’ s car. The engine ran very poorly….which 17 year old me resolved completely by replacing the broken #3 intake valve spring. She then ran delightfully smooth, and I netted a tidy $500.[

I think I saw one or two of these-one of my college instructors drove one. This brings back some memories; in 1972 Pontiac offered what they called the Sprint version of their Ventura Ii(a badge engineered /Chevrolet Nova) which featured among other things a Hurst shifter to go along with the Chevy 250 six and a 3-speed manual transmission. I think it was Pontiac’s rather feeble effort to compete with the likes of the
vega GT, Mercury Capri and Buick Opel Manta. They advertised it a lot in 1972, but I do not recall ever seeing one ever. “We build excitement”….apparently not in this case.

I’m going to ask your forgiveness in advance for venturing into potentially political waters.

An economic recession began in the US in 1970…arguably the first recession since 1958.

GM in particular saw a market for some stripper specials.

Pontiac’s T-37 was the first, but it was quickly followed by the “Heavy Chevy” and “Rally Nova” appearance packages for otherwise stripped Chevelle and Nova coupes.

It’s also true that insurance companies were coming down hard on owners of “supercars” (what muscle cars were usually called back then), a double whammy. But as was characteristic of that era, you could, as noted above, option out your stripper special with the most powerful V-8s available if you so desire, and hopefully avoid the surcharges – if not outright cancellation – one now risked if buying a GTO Judge or SS454. Pontiac more than tipped its hand in that regard with the GT-37.

Bottom line: for many, varied reasons, the optimism that characterized much of the WWII era thru the sixties was, by the time of the Altamont concert disaster in December 1969, dead in the water.

There was a recession-driven revival of stripped models midway through the 1970 model year. At the beginning of the year, the Malibu was the base Chevelle trim, but decontented base Chevelle models were added later. When Ford introduced the ’70 1/2 Falcon series in January, they even went as far as to add a 2-door sedan bodystyle that had been absent from the Farilane/Torino since 1967.

I’m pretty sure you have the economics nailed down. I remember seeing a number of these always owned by poor sailors or soldiers. I confess that I never had a grasp of what or why. T-37 is just a label that I remember.

The one that sticks in my memory the most had a pretty hot version of the OHC six. I always thought that engine should have been adopted by the rest of GM and developed. Over time they went with the 231 instead and it too was a winner. I really liked the 230 I had in my Nova but the Pontiac engine was better everywhere but head durability (or so I hear).

Very correct in calling the high performance cars of this era “Supercars”, for that is what all the major magazines of the day called them. Sometime in the 1980’s, when these cars could be found anywhere for a song, did people start to refer to them as muscle cars. But you are spot on correct, Chas:

In the era itself they resided and operated in, they were always referred to as supercars!

I agree with your characterization of the times. The optimism and, to a certain extent, innocence of the 60’s was in danger by 1965 with the escalation of the war and Johnson’s “credibility gap” and the Watts Riot. What followed – more urban riots and the assassinations and turmoil of 1968 – pretty much ended JFK’s uplifting vision for the decade. The Manson murders in August of 1969 and Altamont at year’s end gave lie to some of the notion of a peaceful and progressive counter culture. Adding in the recession, auto insurance rates, environmental and safety regulations, and a return to less aspirational goals in general, helps to make some sense of the T-37.

Great article, JPC. I never knew there was a GT-37 – would look interesting in the garage.next to my G37.

“He was the longtime GM engineer who had come up through the ranks of the company’s foundry operations, eventually heading the Defiance, Ohio foundry.”

I toured the plant in the late 1990s. It was interesting to see the original 1948 sections of the plant versus the subsequent expansions. There was a still a sand casting press there from the 1940s and it was still in use.

The factory was on the Soviets first strike list because of the high % of military vehicles that used GM engine blocks.

Related to the article it seems that nomenclature nincompoopery goes back much further than we thought.

My Uncle Bob worked at Defiance from the 1950s up to about 1968 or so, when he transferred to Saginaw. He was bright and good at math and was chosen to work with GM’s early computer systems there. I recall getting a tour as a kid and watching a punch-card sorter work. My 7 year old’s thought was “cool card shuffler, but what does it DO?” 🙂

Maternal grandfather worked there from the mid 50s till his death in the late 70s, but religiously drove Fords. He was the third owner of my 1967 Mustang.

When we toured the plant our grizzled old tour guide pointed to where cast iron suspension A arms were being cast. “Thats were we made the Pontiac 4.” I wondered if they were forbidden from using the colloquial Iron Duke.

I have worked at the Defiance, OH casting plant for the past 25 years. Not much iron is poured here any more. Aluminum seems to be our immediate future.

Great point about being on the Soviet first-strike list. (A lot of cows and not much else would have been harmed if that had happened.) One of the other things that the Soviet’s were concerned about was the government issued, NASA developed cupola (#4) that we used to melt raw materials to create our iron. (Remember, John McNamara was a former GM honcho when he was selected by the Kennedy administration.) The story goes that Cupola #4 was designed and installed to test new rocket propulsion ideas for the Apollo missions. Not many of the old guys are still around who stood WAY back when they lit that thing for the first time but you can find some of them.

Great article. I have to admit that this article exposes my own ignorance, I never realized that the Tempest lived until 1971. I thought it died off in 1965. I guess I am guilty of assuming that the only Pontiac A body cars from the 65-71 period were the Lemans and GTO. I guess the Tempest nameplate suffered the same level forgotteness(Is this a word?) as the 85-90 C Body Buick Electra. All I would see around were ether Buick Park Avenues and the very similar looking 86-91 H body LeSabre. I have never seen a 85-90 Electra in the metal. I am curious how many Tempests were sold in 65-71

I remember an article once that said something about a Pontiac Exec in the 70s that wanted all the cars to have some version of “Grand” in the name.
Hence Granville, Grand Am, Grand Prix (existing), and Grand LeMans. The Trans Am, Bonnie and Can Am don’t quite with the story though.

An interesting car, mainly in that Pontiac’s Roadrunner was supposed to be the 1969 GTO Judge. Of course, as things turned out, the Judge wasn’t really quite as stripped for a bare-bones musclecar. But it still sold well, so, evidently, they got with the program with the (G)T-37 but just a bit late.

The way they did it was actually rather strange, in comparison. As mentioned, the other GM ‘mylar GTs’ like the Heavy Chevy, Rally Nova, and Cutlass Rally 350 were all tarted-up on the exterior, even though they usually didn’t have much under the hood. The T-37 wasn’t exactly flashy and it’s easy to see why it didn’t last very long. For all intents and purposes, it looked like any other, run-of-the-mill LeMans, just with pillars.

Ironically, Chevrolet had already tried this route in 1969 with the SS396 package when it was ordered on the lowest line Chevelle, the 300 pillared coupe. Very few were sold and it only lasted one year. I guess Pontiac figured they could do better. My guess is it was mostly a gimmick to capitalize on the fad of using a car’s RPO code. The Z-28 nomenclature has become a legend, surviving to this day, right up there with ‘Hemi’ and ‘GT-350/500’. At the time, Oldsmobile was doing pretty well with their W-30/31 cars, too.

So, Pontiac must have figured using ‘T-37’ as a model designation would score a big hit, as well.

Fooled me. I only saw a couple of these in the wild in the 70s, But the ’70 restyle turned me off so much that I’ve always ignored these cars and just assumed the T-37 designation denoted some type of performance package. I never realized that the Tempest name was dropped.

I’m not a fan of the ’70-’72 Pontiac A bodies. The heavy front and rear restyling and clumsy pontoons above the wheel wells ruined the very clean ’68 and ’69.

The Special and F-85 were Buick and Olds ‘senior compacts’, new for 1961. F-85 was a military jet, and Special was a Buick model dating back a few decades. These names were not “just” the low end models. Skylark and Cutlass names came later, as with LeMans.

Each division had three basic trim levels. At each of the BOP divisions, the top trim level (LeMans, Cutlass, Skylark) eventually became a separate model, absorbing the middle trim level somewhere along the line, leaving only the lowest trim level carrying the original model name (Tempest, F-85, Special). In all three cases, the lowest trim level was later dropped, taking the original model name with it (except for Pontiac, where the Tempest name disappeared one year before the trim level did).

Chevrolet proceeded a bit differently. The top trim level, the Malibu, didn’t lose its “Chevelle” prefix until 1978, and didn’t take over what had originally been the middle trim level (Chevelle 300 Deluxe, later just base Chevelle, then Chevelle Deluxe for one year in ’73) until 1974, when the Malibu/Malibu Classic nomenclature was introduced. What had originally been the base trim level (Chevelle 300) was already gone by then.

TeeJay

Posted December 25, 2014 at 4:01 AM

Merry Christmas Everyone !!!

Besides the”T-37″, “Tempest”, and ” LeMans” names, didn’t Pontiac also use the name, “Custom S” on one of their intermediates? I think I recall seeing that name while looking through the Pontiac brochures on the website, oldcarbrochures.org

Does anyone recall the “Pontiac Custom S” ?????

gottacook

Posted December 25, 2014 at 10:16 AM

The Custom S was a 1969-only model, and I think it replaced the Tempest Custom (i.e., the slot between Tempest and LeMans).

Tomcat630

Posted December 25, 2014 at 2:57 PM

The last Olds [Cutlass] F-85 was ’72, a four door only, post sedan. The first Cutlass model was mid model year, May 1961.

Oh wait … F-85 was then used on the base X body RWD Omega around 75-78, too.

Worth noting that Electra 225 made it’s last appearance in 1979, All 1980 – 84 “C” body Buicks were either Electras or Park Avenues. When the “new” 1985s came out they brought back numbers with the Electra 380 (I assume for 3.8l engine) But still most buyers just jumped up to the Parker, (Same deal as the forgotten T – 37, and Olds F – 85.

In 1985, the base engine for the Electra Limited was the 3.0L Buick V6. Then there was the Electra with the available 3.8 Buick V6 which was called Electra 380 and the “sport” version, the Electra T-Type (which also had the 3.8 V6) an there was also the Electra 430 with the Olds 4.3 Diesel!

The Electra 380 and 430 designations were gone by 1986 as the Diesel engine was dropped and the 3.8 was made standard in the base Electra Limited. I know people who had both the Electra 380 and the Electra 430 from 1985.

As for the Pontiac T-37, since the name originates from the 2 door hardtop body style’s “37” code, I’m wondering why the post coupe wasn’t named T-27 and the 4 door sedan named T-69!

By 1971, GM was still making cheapo versions of their “A” bodies (think at those post coupes, or cars without the “depress park” wipers which stayed visible in the windshield when not in use and plain-jane interiors), they just seemed to abandon the names of the lesser series and move the name of the nicer models to the lower series. If you look at the model numbers, you can see that the lower models kept their model numbers but changed names.
As I am more familiar with Buick than Pontiac models, I’ll give for example the Special, Special Deluxe and Skylark in the mid-1960s. In 1968, the previous year’s base Special was renamed Special Deluxe, the Special Deluxe was renamed Skylark and the Skylark was renamed Skylark Custom. Two years later, there was a base Skylark which replaced the Special Deluxe from 1968-69, the Skylark 350 which replaced the base 1968-69 Skylark and the Skylark Custom. For 1971, the Skylark 350 model was dropped (and the name was revived shortly on the 1973 base model Century: Century 350, Century 455 (and GS versions of both), Century Luxus and Regal. For 1974, the “350” designation was gone again on the Century and the following year, the “Special” was reintroduced on a V6 model that was stripped from some basic equipment for 1975. The Skyhawk and Apollo/Skylark (which was now an “X” body and cheaper than the Century Special!) got similar stripped models which added an “S” suffix while the most expensive versions of the Apollo/Skylark and Regal added the suffix “S/R” to add some confusion! In the late eighties or early nineties, Chrysler issued some stripped versions of their Shadow/Sundance models which were also called Shadow S and Sundance S (that might have been a Canadian-only thing) but these certainly reminded me the 1970s Buick “S” and “Special” models! These cars lacked some of the highly advertised 47 standard features of the basic Shadow/Sundance and there were also nicer models designated by “ES” or “RS” again featuring a “S” while the base models were between the “S” and “ES” or “RS” versions… As I think about it, the Chevette also had the stripped Scooter and nicer CS versions in the mid-eighties, and again, the base model was between two models designated by a “S”!
Now, I’m getting quite far from the original T-37 subject! I guess I had too much coffee on that Christmas night!

For those who aren’t already bored reading this, I’ll just add that model numbers (which were quite constant on the 1965-1973 GM cars) are often more important than names that changed for cars that kept the same model numbers and characteristics over the years.
In most cases, names moved to cheaper models as years passed (think about Chevy Bel Air, Pontiac Bonneville and Grand Prix, Olds Starfire and Buick Skylark just to name a few!) but there were some exceptions to that. Another Buick example for this is the new-for-1970 LeSabre Custom 455 (model 464). Some might think that this model replaced the 1965-69 LeSabre 400 but in fact, it replaced the base 1966-1969 Wildcat (also model 464) which replaced the 1965 Wildcat Deluxe model 464 (that year, the base Wildcat’s model’s number was 462 and was more cheaply trimmed than any of the later models). So in that case, the lesser name moved to an upper series model!
And after the confusion created with the Centurion/Century names in the early seventies. The nicer version of the LeSabre was also moved upmarket in 1974 as it shared it’s interior trim with the previous Centurion which had replaced the Wildcat Custom (model 466) in 1970.

Wow Phil, that’s quite the write up! I’d forgotten about the Electra 380 entirely. I’m frequently amazed at my co-commentators on this site with regard to the wide and deep knowledge they possess about (what would probably be the most mundane to other folks) minutia about the car business.

I last saw one of these for sale on Craigslist earlier this year. I had read about these in the “new car ” intro. issues of the car mags I used to buy back then. I had assumed that this was rip off of the Z28 rpo tag and was surprised that it didn’t come equipped as a performance model. Still any A body coupe was pretty nice. They still are. They are only a restification away from being a GTO. Younger readers would be amazed at how dealers would order a couple of real strippers so that they could advertise them at bargain basement prices. Buyers would arrive and the sales staff would “skillfully” redirect them to more profit laden cars. It would hard for young folks today to appreciate how little “content” was included in a base model. No radio,no heater and defroster, three on the tree, cheaply upholstered bench seats with rubber floor mats,no clock, straight six and dog dish ” poverty caps”. There were usually several different levels of upgraded interior and trim packages. Sometimes you might find a low level nameplate like a 60’s Bel Air sedan equipped with a v8/auto,a/c and even with power steering and brakes. Some “conservative” buyers weren’t going to splurge on the tonier Impala or Caprice models but were willing to load up a cheaper nameplate. Now, I confess that I too have developed a soft spot for these stripper survivors.

The sales method you describe is still alive and well. I was using it myself when I was selling cars 20+ years ago. The guy I used to buy my new Pontiacs from used to try to do the same thing to me, but I was one of those “weirdo” buyers who had a real specific car in mind when I was on the lot. I’ll give the guy credit, he got me what I wanted and he got a sale out of me…

Exactly, this tactic is alive and well. You’ll see a car advertised for “$179/mo lease special!!” but it will be the base model and you’ll be lucky to find more than one on the lot, and it’ll generally be a sedan in a bland color. Kia is a good example of that–try to find a Forte LX. They basically don’t exist.

Even so, today’s “stripper’ is a far cry from what they used to be. You still get carpet, cloth interior (though the “cloth” in base models often seems to be more closely related to vinyl or burlap than it does to, say, household upholstery), power steering and brakes, stereo with CD, often even power windows and locks.

It’s amazing how car companies play around with names, using several different names for slightly retrimmed versions of the same car. Chrysler was probably the most prolific at this, but they all did it. That car with a white door looks like a regular LeMans to me. I like the lines. Of course, the LeMans was a slightly altered Chevelle. So was the Buick Skylark and Olds Cutlass. Overall it was a nice body style. Another 2 door coupe.

Road Runner a PL22 ????………..Uh no. If Plymouth had chosen to name the Road Runner after its body code it would have been RM21 (coupe) or RM 23 (hardtop). Chrysler never used the “22” designation on a body style until the 75 Cordoba and Charger. Also “PL” would have been the designation for a full size Plymouth with the “Low” trim level.

While the SS396 Chevelle was king of the hill, I always had a thing for the “Heavy Chevy” To the point of building a clone about 20 years ago. It was a base model Malibu, 350/350 with a column shifter. A new paint job (which it needed) Heavy Chevy emblems and stripes (which were all stick on decals), rally wheels and T/A radials and a dual exhaust with Cherry Bomb glasspacks. I wish I still had it. The price of even a base Malibu 2 door is now in the stratosphere.

I never knew they’ve made the T-37’s in 4 doors, I always thought they were only available in 2 door’s, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought the 1970-72 Pontiac front end’s were a downgrade to the 1968-69’s although I’ll gladly take it over the front end’s of the 1971-72 Chevelle’s, for some reason I thought the GM immediate 4 door’s from 1968-72 looked better in the Buick and Oldsmobile trims than the Chevrolet and Pontiacs, I’ve seen more 4 door immediates of that era in the Buick and Oldsmobile trims than the Chevrolet and especially Pontiac trims

Regarding loading up a cheaper trim line – I remember a long-time car salesman remarking to me, that especially during the 1960’s, many people wanted air conditioning in their new car but were put off by the high price tag and felt they couldn’t afford it if they went with say, a Caprice or Impala. Many would compromise and opt for a Bel-Air or Biscayne and equip it with air conditioning along with what other options the manufacturer specified must be present to have this feature.

Sometimes, instead of a full-size car, buyers wanting air conditioning would go for one of the intermediate sizes. The money saved made it possible, or at least did away with the feeling of being extravagant.

I do know of one ’63 Biscayne in my hometown that was the plainest, ugliest 4 door ever and completely devoid of options except for the base 283, p/s, p/b, powerglide, and factory, in-dash air conditioning.

A neighbor girl (well, she’s in her 50’s now) of ours got a 1971(IIRC) T-37 for her HS graduation in 1974. It was medium blue 2 door hardtop with a black vinyl roof, with the regular 350/350 combination (again, IIRC. This was 40 years ago!)

The car clearly had the T-37 identifiers on the front fenders, but I never gave that a second thought. In my mind I recognized it as some variation of a Tempest/LeMans, but not really knowing it was a separate model at that time. I’ve always liked the looks of the 60-70’s A-bodies and other than the unusual name of the car, I don’t really remember much more about it.

Thanks for the refresher! I recognized the clue as some early 1970’s GM product, but it could have been the side marker lamp from the last of the 67-71 Chevy/GMC pickup trucks, too. I would have guessed wrong…

My mother bought a 1970 Tempest T-37 in September 1970. I was nine at the time and was at the dealer with her. It was her daily driver for years and I finally inherited it when she passed away. I sold it around 2005. It was a great, dependable car that served us well for many years.